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How we pick the events: These listings are not advertisements. They are a selective guide to arts events recommended by Chicago’s culture critics.

Know before you go: Details of listings can change at the last minute. Please call ahead to confirm.

CRITIC’S PICK

Buzzer

2/8–3/9 Tracey Scott Wilson (The Good Negro) explores the intricacies of race and class via a successful, smartphone-obsessed African American lawyer, his white wife, and their pill-popping houseguest. Jessica Thebus directs a cast of three (Eric Lynch, Lee Stark, and Shane Kenyon) in this whip-smart exploration of color and class lines. $10–$30. Goodman Owen Theatre, 170 N Dearborn. goodmantheatre.org

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Through 2/16 Can a marriage survive the strain of caring for a severely brain-damaged child? That’s the question at the heart of Peter Nichols’s pitch-black comedy about a smut-talking, sex-loving English couple and their young cerebral palsy–stricken daughter. $15–$27. Stage Left Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W Belmont. stagelefttheatre.com

The Golden Dragon

Through 2/23 When a patron at a pan-Asian restaurant finds a human tooth in his dinner, an epic clash between cultures ensues. $20–$25. Sideshow Theatre at the Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theatre, 2433 N Lincoln. sideshowtheatre.org

Happy

2/12–3/16 “I don’t know a single person who’s happy who isn’t high,” notes one of the characters in Robert Caisley’s caustic look at a quartet of friends who find their contentment crumbling during a long booze-fueled cocktail party. Elly Green directs. $25–$30. Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W Bryn Mawr. redtwist.org

The Pitchfork Disney

2/6–3/3 In this black comedy penned by Philip Ridley, a pair of feral siblings and a wacky nightclub entertainer named Disney get into some trouble. $12–$20. Interrobang Theatre Project at the Athenaeum, 2936 N Southport. interrobangtheatreproject.org

Port Authority

Through 2/16 Three generations of men recount stories of lost love, big dreams, and irrevocable choices. William Brown directs. $35–$70. Writers Theatre at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon, Glencoe. writerstheatre.org

The Reckoning of Kit and Little Boots

2/8–3/2 Alas, poor Christopher Marlowe. As he dies from a stab wound to the eyeball, the Elizabethan playwright’s life flashes before his remaining ocular unit with the Roman emperor Caligula as his personal Mephistopheles. Think of it as a metaphysical buddy comedy. $12–$20. First Floor Theater at the Den Theatre, 1333 N Milwaukee. firstfloortheater.com

Rough Crossing

Through 3/2 A comedically deft cast, featuring Kevin McKillip and René Ruelas, takes to the high seas in Tom Stoppard’s linguistically dazzling romp about a pair of playwrights trying to keep their show from sinking while aboard the SS Italian Castle. $22–$37. First Folio Theatre at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W 31st, Oak Brook. firstfolio.org

The Taming of the Shrew

2/12–3/30 Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Provision Theater moves Shakespeare’s battle of the sexes from Elizabethan Italy to Little Italy in New York City. Susan Moniz takes on the role of an acid-tongued lass who captures the heart of a machismo control freak. $10–$32. Provision Theater, 1001 W Roosevelt. provisiontheater.org